Sunderland boss Roy Keane has expressed his delight on finally being able to seal a deal with West Ham United for George McCartney on transfer deadline day.

The Black Cats managed to seal the deal to bring McCartney to the Stadium of Light just hours before the close of the transfer window on Monday.

This is the second spell for the Northern Ireland international at the North East side, with the defender having started his proffessional career at Sunderland ten years ago.

The 27-year-old was the 10th and last capture for Keane of the summer, following team-mate Anton Ferdinand along with the likes of Steed Malbranque, Djibril Cisse, Pascal Chimbonda and fellow countryman David Healy to the Black Cats.

Keane said: "We left it late but we’d been trying to negotiate with West Ham for a week or so, fortunately for us we got it done on the final day.

"That was the player I thought we needed in terms of the left-back position. At least it’s over with now and we can relax and focus on the players we have.

"There’s an element of relief that the transfer window is shut, there’s lots of speculation and agents are active and busy in that time, putting players forward to different people.

'We just had to keep a clear mind and focus on the players we wanted. The club have been great – we have got the players we wanted over the last six weeks, particularly since we came back for pre-season.

'I’m delighted with my lot now."